Always Blind
by Melantha A
Summary: An old friend of Sakura's comes to Konoha for a visit. With all his powers, Sasuke never even saw this one coming...[SasuSaku]


Happy Valentine's Day!

A/N: Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Just a nice piece of SasuSaku fluff in time for the holiday. This fic is dedicated to everyone reviewing on Harry Potter and the Legend of the Shinobi, my other story, who are in need of a bit of fluffy SasuSaku. The romance is a little slower in that fic, so I wrote this to let off a little fluffiness steam. I would have posted this earlier, if my school had canceled, like it should have. We had so much snow! Nut job administrators…Anywho! Happy Reading!

"This is perfect!" Sakura's mother gushed. "The perfect opportunity to make Sakura fall out of love with that Sasuke." Sakura's father shrugged.

"What's wrong with Sasuke?" He asked. "Such a promising shinobi, from such a strong family." Her mother sighed, impatient.

"He's never going to love her! She can't waste her life away waiting for a boy who will never love anybody!" She waved the thick, four page letter in front of her husband's clueless face. "No, Sadako's coming to Konoha tomorrow, and she's bringing Masato. I will fix them up if it's the last thing I do!" The woman said, rushing home to finalize her plans. Her husband shook his head.

"She's never going to learn." He said as he followed her home. Kakashi chuckled softly from his place a little down the road. He had heard every word of the exchange between husband and wife.

"This is going to be interesting" He said, walking to meet his team, a good three hours late.

The next day Sakura drudged home, worn out from a long day of miserable, useless missions. She opened the door, frowning as she heard unfamiliar voices.

"Mother!" She called as she entered the house. The genin was immediately assaulted by a pink blur.

"Sakura, darling!" Her mother said, forcibly dragging her towards the kitchen. Before they entered the room where Sakura was certain a horrible fate awaited her, her mother held her at arms length, trying to wipe a smudge off the girl's cheek. "How on earth do you always get so messy? It's not very…attractive." Sakura just looked at her mother.

"Mom…I'm a shinobi. Getting messy is sort of par for the course." Her mother just shook her head.

"Whatever, darling." She said, leading Sakura to believe that she really hadn't been heard. "I have a huge surprise for you!" Sakura began to panic as her mother pulled her into the room of doom…

It was a mere two hours after Kakashi had dismissed them. Sakura had long left her two teammates glaring at each other from opposite sides of the bridge. And their staring contest had not let up since.

It was currently tied, two wins for Naruto, and two wins for Sasuke.

Sasuke's eye twitched. He wished he could use the Sharingan and hypnotize Naruto into shutting his eyes. But no chakra was a long established rule. He just had to concentrate and do not blink…do not blink…do not blink.

"YES!!! I WIN!!! IN YOUR FACE SASUKE!!!" Naruto called, pointing his finger obnoxiously in his friend's face. Sasuke played it cool.

"Whatever, dobe." He said, shutting his eyes. A feminine laugh wafted over them. _Sakura…_Sasuke thought, wishing for a quiet afternoon. With his teammates, that was not going to happen. He closed his eyes lazily.

"These are my teammates, Sasuke and Naruto." Sakura said.

"Hi!" Naruto said. _What are they doing? _Sasuke thought without opening his eyes.

"This is Masato, an old friend from when we used to live in Osaka." Sasuke's curiosity got the best of him. He opened his coal black eyes, frowning at the sight his sharp vision treated him to.

Masato was taller than either of the shinobi. He had dark brown hair and icy blue eyes. There was a slight smile on his face. His skin was almost as pale as Sasuke's; perfect, without any blemishes or imperfections at all. He was dressed casually, in a style rarely scene in Konoha. He wore jeans, a black t-shirt, and a dark blue button up shirt that was not tucked in and for the most part, left unbuttoned.

What stopped Sasuke's gaze was Sakura.

She was smiling, a more carefree smile than he had ever seen on her face. She was blushing, her arm locked with Masato's. The sparkle in her eye was…purely innocent. No matter how many times a day Sakura gazed at Sasuke with a blush, her look was never so pure and carefree.

For some reason…Sasuke resented that.

Naruto was being obnoxious.

"So…you're not a ninja?" He asked for the thousandth time.

"No." Masato said. "I actually didn't know this whole…society existed until yesterday." He said, looking fairly overwhelmed.

"But then…what do you do?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know. I just…go to school. Do normal stuff?" He said, uncertain. "Why? What do you do?"

"Don't answer that." Sakura said as Naruto opened his mouth. "I don't want to freak him out too much." She said with a smile. Sasuke's stomach flopped unreasonably. _What's this feeling? _He asked himself. _It can't be…jealousy. Why would I be jealous of this guy? He doesn't have any powers, let alone a bloodline limit. He's not even that good looking. But why then is Sakura so…enamored. Why do I care? _Sasuke, for the first time in a long time, was confused. So, he stood, glaring at Masato without hearing the conversation going on between the tall youth and his teammates.

"Sasuke? Sasuke!" Sakura's surprisingly annoyed voice broke his stair.

"What?" Sasuke managed to keep his usual contempt in his voice. Sakura's green eyes flashed.

"We were going to Ichiraku's. Do you want to come?" Sasuke thought he saw a flicker of longing in her eyes before it was buried deep. This took some thought on Sasuke's part. He didn't like Masato, but he was intrigued. He wanted, no needed to find out more about him. Sasuke was starting to treat this like an upper level mission.

"Hn." He said. "I'll go." Sakura smiled, guiding Masato away and leaving Sasuke to trail behind the three of them. With every step his hatred for the foreigner grew. By the time they reached Ichiraku's, Sasuke's hand was trembling over his shuriken, his eyes tinted a deep scarlet. Not enough for his teammates to notice or be concerned, but they were getting there.

"Hey Ino!" As they entered the ramen house, they found team ten, complete with a pigging out Choji, a bored looking Shikamaru, and an overly energetic Ino. The girls immediately launched into conversation, with introductions and questions abounding. Masato stood there, taking it more coolly than Sasuke ever could. His slight smile was enough to make even Ino blush.

The funny thing was Sasuke didn't feel as mad when the red crept across Ino's cheeks, only when it spread along Sakura's.

Sasuke found he couldn't concentrate on anything, not even the passage of time. He just watched as Sakura and Masato caught up. Finally, the breaking point came.

"I've forgotten how beautiful your eyes were." Masato said, brushing Sakura's pink hair behind her ear. They were very close, nearly touching.

Fury burst in Sasuke's chest. His eyes turned completely red, the flecks of black appearing as the Sharingan activated. Without another word he dashed out of the vicinity as a blur. He didn't stop until he was alone behind a building. He began to pace, trying to calm himself down and concentrate on controlling his chakra. The green monster of envy burned in his chest, a fireball wanting to burst forth.

"What the hell was that?" Sasuke whirled around to find that he had been followed, despite his breakneck pace. Naruto stood, his hands on his hips, staring at his friend with a questioning look. Shikamaru, who had obviously been forcibly dragged along, leaned against the wall of the building, looking bored, as usual. Sasuke ignored the question and went back to pacing and keeping his chakra in check. "Hello? Earth to Sasuke! What's gotten into you!?" Naruto said, beginning to feel angry at being ignored. Sasuke took deep breaths.

"That guy…he…did you see…" He couldn't form the words into a complete sentence, let alone a coherent one. "I need something to BURN!" Shikamaru and Naruto took a precautionary step back. Naruto frowned.

"Is this about Masato?" He asked incredulously. Sasuke hesitated, not trusting his mouth to open. Something might light on fire. Finally he nodded. Naruto laughed. "Good, it's not me." Sasuke's brow furrowed. His fists shook. The Uchiha whirled around, taking a deep breath and obliterating an unlucky trashcan that happened to be innocently perched at the back of the alley.

"Hey." Kakashi said from behind his students. He put the flames out with a simple water jutsu. "Let's keep the property damage to a minimum this time, shall we?" Sasuke just sighed, the pressure in his chest alleviated. "Now why are we lighting things on fire?" Naruto laughed.

"Sasuke's jealous of Sakura's old friend." He said with a smirk.

"I am not!" Sasuke protested. Kakashi chuckled softly.

"Is that so?" Sasuke glared at his teammate.

"Will you all just stop! I'm really not jealous of him."

"Sure, Sasuke. You just lit the trash can on fire because it insulted you." Kakashi said. The young shinobi was slowly realizing, along with everyone else in the alley, that he was, indeed, jealous of Masato.

"You so are jealous!" Naruto said with a laugh. Sasuke looked at the ground, the anger building again. Shikamaru groaned.

"Oh please." He said lazily. "I seriously have to explain this. Fine. You're right. You have no reason to be jealous. He doesn't have any powers, or visible talents. Yet Sakura seems to really like him. Have you ever thought she may just be clinging to the little reminder of innocence? She's lingering on the one bit of purely innocent love she ever had. Before all the heartbreak and the struggle. But she's in love with you. She's proven she's willing to kill and die for you. So yeah, you shouldn't be jealous. Now get over yourself and stop lighting things on fire. That really can't be healthy." Shikamaru promptly returned to starting at the clouds. But his speech had served its purpose. Sasuke was much calmer and thinking clearly. He agreed. Shikamaru was right, much to his great displeasure. Masato posed no threat to him. But this all posed a very interesting question…

"Hey Sasuke." Naruto said after a moment of thinking. Sasuke turned to his teammate with dread. "Why were you so jealous of Masato to begin with?" Everyone froze. Kakashi chuckled.

"That is such an interesting question Naruto. So, what do you say Sasuke?"

"Oh man. I'm going to have to explain this to you too, aren't I. You guys are so troublesome." Shikamaru groaned. Everyone waited for a moment…Naruto would get it in a minute. They predicted correctly. Naruto's face got quite red as he pointed an accusatory finger at his friend.

"YOU'RE IN LOVE WITH SAKURA!" He shouted in Sasuke's face. Sasuke didn't respond, he just frowned. Kakashi sighed. _This is not going to end well. _Naruto was ready for a fight. And Sasuke needed to let off some steam. If the pair was to get into one of their epic battles, it would only end in some serious injury.

"Okay, Naruto." He said placing a hand on the overexcited youth's shoulder. "Let's leave Sasuke alone." Shikamaru needed no further prompting. He was out of the alley as fast as he could walk lazily. Naruto needed a further glare from Kakashi before he followed Shikamaru. Kakashi gave Sasuke a look that said _I'll talk to you later _and vanished in a cloud of smoke.

Sasuke sighed, leaning heavily against the wall. He felt grateful they were all gone, especially after Naruto's last declaration.

Because…no matter how much Sasuke denied it, wanted it to be untrue…

He was in love with Sakura.

He had never even thought this was a possibility. She was always so annoying. But she had been getting better. Ever since the Chuunin Exam, she had been getting progressively less irritating. She still was in love with him, but it stopped being such a juvenile crush. It had developed into real love. And Sasuke had been slowly lowering his own inhibitions. When he thought about it, he had begun to rely on her. She was the one he told about the curse, who helped him through it when Naruto was in the dark. She was the one who had enough insight to realize he was going to defect, and tried to stop him. And she was willing to give up everything she cared about to help him, to be with him forever.

Yet despite all of these things, despite how much respect Sasuke now had for his pink-haired teammate, he always acted like he hated her, like he would never care about her.

And now she had found someone she had loved almost as much as Sasuke. She was tired of the fight.

Sasuke was going to lose her to this…this _civilian. _

Unless he acted, and acted fast. Sasuke's look hardened into one of determination. He straightened up, moving towards Sakura's house with the most speed he could muster.

The sun was just dipping towards the horizon as Sasuke rounded the corner. Sakura and Masato were standing just outside the door, talking. Her hand was on the door handle.

"Sakura wait!" He called out, skidding to a stop before the pair.

"What is it Sasuke?" She asked, alarmed. Masato raised his eyebrows at the Uchiha.

"I have to talk to you." He said, pulling her out of the doorway.

"Sakura!" They heard her mother calling as she came to the doorway. "Come inside, it's almost dark!" Both of Sakura's parents were now standing at the doorway, watching.

Sasuke still had his hand on Sakura's wrist. His eyes darted to the now too many onlookers. This was not something he wanted to say in front of people. Thankfully he couldn't see that Kakashi was leaning against the wall behind him, or that Naruto had snuck up on them.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Sakura asked.

"I…I…ah…" Sasuke stuttered.

"Come on, Sakura." Masato said. "It's getting cold out."

"Dinner's on the table." Her mother informed. Sasuke swallowed.

"Yeah. You know what? Lets just skip over the talking, taking too much time apparently."

And with that he pulled a very surprised Sakura in towards him, kissing her. After the initial shock wore off, Sakura placed her hands on his waist, prolonging the kiss.

Kakashi smirked. "I knew this was going to be interesting." The jounin said, laughing softly.

"Damn it!" Naruto swore, sinking to the ground in frustration. "Just my luck…" He grumbled.

Masato just looked confused. "What just happened?" He asked to no one in particular, looking rejected.

Sakura's mother scowled. "My plan…" She lamented. The woman couldn't ignore the fact that Sasuke actually did care about her daughter. "He'll never stick around for her." She said pompously, grasping at anything she could find to prolong her hatred of Sasuke.

Sakura's father was far more supportive. "I always knew they would end up together." He said with a grand smile. "My daughter…with an Uchiha…happiest day in my life." He laughed.

As all of these reactions were occurring simultaneously, Sasuke and Sakura finally broke apart. The kunoichi was smiling.

"Took you long enough." She said, with feigned annoyance. Her sparkling green eyes and vivid red cheeks destroyed her attempt at false emotion. Sasuke smirked back, brushing Sakura's bright hair off her face.

"I'm sorry I didn't see before now." Even with all the powers of the Sharingan, he never saw any of this coming. He especially didn't expect to feel this overwhelming emotion. It was one of…happiness. He was happy for the first time in almost five years. And it was all because of the girl he thought he hated, that he now held in his arms. "Sakura…I love you." Running his fingers through her hair, he kissed her again, forgetting that they were being watched, forgetting about the fall wind that swept around them. He just concentrated on Sakura, her feel, her smell, all of the memories they had together.

And he found that needed nothing else.

The End


End file.
